by Russ Watts
Don could feel the woman’s anguish, and wondered what would happen if John were accidentally to get hot coffee thrown in his face.
Let it go. This buffoon is clearly building up to something. Probably has a name already planned out and has been letting the others struggle. Jerk.
“Zola, I’m not sure we should push the whole dinosaur angle. I was watching my kid this morning, and you know what he was watching on TV? Barney. We don’t want to associate what we have with a friendly purple dinosaur, or we’ll come across as a joke. We have to get the branding right from day one. There was something my maid said to me when I left today. She wanted me to pick my kid up from school. Can you believe it? When I told her I expected her to do what she was paid to do, she spouted some garbage that I didn’t understand. Hello, do I look Mexican? Who cares what the help has to say as long as they can cook and fuck, am I right?”
A sexist and racist joke in one? You really are a jerk.
Don looked at his watch. How much longer was he going to have to listen to this moron?
Nobody responded to John, and he carried on. “Anyway, one word that she said resonated: Diablo. I think what we have here is a dangerous animal. It’s a killer. It’s something mysterious, from the dark side. I think our pet dinosaur is…‘Diablo.’
Tate and Fiona said nothing, and Don waited to see what Zola’s response would be. Depending on her mood, she would either kiss John or fire him for talking like that. She might be a ball-breaker, but she knew where to draw the line. Usually.
“Diablo. The Diablo. Diablo of the Deep. That’s not half bad,” said Zola. “I think we can use this. Di-ab-lo.” The word came out as a whisper and as she said it again, she drew her hands out in the air horizontally, as if putting the word onto an imaginary banner, and smiled.
Don rolled his eyes in the back of his head. Of course, if Zola liked it, then everyone liked it. Chatter grew around the room and he knew that they had found what they wanted. Pleased he hadn’t had to get involved, or punch out John’s teeth, Don stood up and looked at his watch.
That’s an hour of my life I won’t get back.
Don watched Fiona and Tate file out, congratulating each other and slapping John on the back. They left with smiles on their faces, but Don knew they had been crushed. Zola hung back and caught Don as he was about to lock the door behind them.
“Don, thanks for coming, I appreciate it.” She rested her hand on his arm as he reached for the door. “I needed a clear head on this. They’re a bunch of ass-kissers and you’re…”
“Not?”
“No, you’re too pig-headed for that, Don. I could’ve fired you on the spot yesterday. The last person who turned up four hours late for work cleans my pool for a living now. Once a week it gets a thorough seeing to.” Zola lent in closer to Don. “You know what else they see to?” she asked suggestively.
“Mrs Bertoni, I really have to get going. There’s a whole heap of stuff I have to organise for Diablo’s party tomorrow.”
“Party? I think that’s an understatement, don’t you? I’ve heard expectations upwards of a hundred million viewers, Don. Upwards.”
“Hope you’ve got a nice dress picked out,” said Don sarcastically.
A look of shock crept over Zola’s face. “My God, I nearly forgot! I’d better get something new. See, you’ve got your head screwed on. What would I do without you? So what do you think of the name? I mean, we can’t keep calling it ‘it.’”
“Yeah, well I think it’s fine. Its got a certain ring to it. Go for it. Like you said, there’s a lot you can do with it.”
“Honestly, you like it? I need some perspective on this; I’ve been up all night thinking about it.”
Don edged towards the door. “I think Diablo is perfect. Now I really have to hustle.”
Zola let Don pass. “Make sure you come by my office later. I’m going to be in there all day up to my neck in it. Maybe after the press briefing you can stop by. I need to run the logistics by you. We’re going to have a full house tomorrow and on top of all that, there’ll be cameras, photographers, celebrities. Ooh, that reminds me, I need to get hold of Brad’s agent. I think he’s in Mexico shooting right now, and I might be able to persuade him to come see our dino’…I mean, come see Diablo.”
“Good luck!” Don escaped Zola’s clutches and wandered off to the security room. It was starting to hit him now, just how much work there was to do. They were used to staging shows and events at the park. Shakti Stadium was often full, and thousands of people came through the park gates every day. To get everything set up for tomorrow was a tall order though and he hurried to the office. He knew he would have to catch up with Zola later. He just hoped she had calmed down by then. When work excited her, she got all hyped up and threw herself at him. He could fend for himself, but still, he’d rather keep out of her way if he could.
OCTOBER THURSDAY 17TH 11:49
Don watched Amanda walk toward him by the pool. Her wet hair slicked back over her shoulders and the black wetsuit clung to her body. Sometimes, he wished he could cling to a body like that. Then he remembered last night with Meghan. He had been out of the game too long. He hadn’t planned for anything to happen; never thought a bit of flirting would lead anywhere, or be anything more than playful banter. When he thought about it, Meghan and Amanda were completely different. Yet, he had a connection with them both, and for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t so worried about the future.
As Amanda walked up to him smiling, her feet padding quietly around the edge of the pool, he gave her a wink. “How’s Diablo?”
“Well, he prefers David, but the boss says it’s Diablo or nothing.”
“Zola told you?”
“Yeah, she flew past on her broom a while ago, on her way to the press briefing. Told me the grand plan. It’s top secret, of course.”
“Of course.” Don looked at Diablo lurking in the tank. He was not really moving, just floating on the surface. Yet, he was very much alive, and his eyes were fully open. Don hadn’t seen them so wide before, and could see the dark yellow iris around the jet black pupil. It felt like the monster was watching them talk.
“Did you go to the briefing? How did it go?” asked Amanda as she wrung the water from her hair.
Don realised Amanda was wet, and yet couldn’t believe she would’ve got into the water with Diablo. “You didn’t get in there with it, did you?”
“With that monster? Are you nuts? No, I just had to go check on Poppy and Pete. Jay took my dolphin shows yesterday, so I wanted to check on them. They missed me.”
“Oh, they missed you? Right. Anyway, the media room was chaos. I hung out at the back of the room. I don’t want my face on the news, thank you. Zola was in her element.”
“I bet. Did she do that thing where she wags her finger when she wants someone to listen to her and they keep talking?”
“Yeah, but only like a hundred times. Anyway, she’s got everyone curious to see Diablo. She showed them one of those photographs from yesterday. It just gives a glimpse of the neck and face, so you can’t really see much, but you can tell it’s not just another shark or whale. I think she stirred them up well. There’s another briefing tomorrow and she’s going to accidentally ‘leak’ it out between now and then that we may have a dinosaur on our hands. Then when they start asking questions, she can deny everything and tell them to get tickets for the unveiling tomorrow night.”
“She mentioned that to me. She’s actually closing the park tomorrow, so we can get ready. I’ve got to get Diablo here moved into Shakti Stadium, and somehow make him perform on demand. She’s treating it like a piece of meat. Bless Susan, she’s got Animal World to take Shakti off our hands.”
Don looked at the monster that was perfectly still and quiet. There was a guard outside the room, but it was unnerving. If anything were to happen unexpectedly, he wasn’t sure what good a guard with a walkie-talkie was going to be. They didn’t know what this thing was thinking. They
didn’t know if it thought at all, but the way it was looking at Don now, he was quite sure something was ticking over inside that big head. He walked towards the exit, and the orange eyes followed him.
“How is Diablo? Healthy? Behaving?” Don asked.
“I would say he’s under a lot of stress. He hasn’t moved much since yesterday. He just sits there. I tried feeding him earlier, but he wouldn’t eat anything. I’m worried if he doesn’t perk up, that Zola’s show is going to be a let-down. And we both know whose fault that will be.”
“Don’t worry, even if he just swims around on the surface like this, the whole world will still be amazed. Amanda, why did you call it a ‘he’?”
“Just a feeling more than anything. Look at it. He looks like a ‘he, don’t you think?”
Don thought it looked like it belonged stuffed in a museum, but no matter what animal she was presented with, Amanda always treated it with respect, that was just who she was. If he let her, she might end up getting too close and then Diablo might not be so hungry anymore. “I’m going to talk to Zola. I don’t like it. We need more guards. I’m not happy with you being in here alone with it.”
“Don, you don’t have to look out for me all the time. I can handle myself.”
“It’s not just you, Amanda. I wouldn’t trust Diablo to be around anyone right now.”
Those eyes are still watching me. I wonder if it can hear me. Does it know I want to see it gone? Does it know what we’ve lined up for it tomorrow? One minute you’re swimming around the ocean, the next, you’re an international star. International freak is more like it.
“You got time for lunch today?” asked Don.
“No, I need to go see Susan and then I need to catch up with Jay. I can’t expect him to run everything out there while I work on our new project.”
“Dinner tonight?”
“I promised Hamish I’d cook. He’s picking me up if you want to grab a quick cold one though?”
“Maybe. I’ll check in on you later.”
Don left and could feel the monster’s cold stare on his back as he left. Zola would agree to almost anything right now, and he knew exactly what he wanted. Diablo was starting to sound about right. There was nothing natural about those eyes. Don made his way to Zola’s office and knocked before entering.
Once more into the fray.
CHAPTER 8
OCTOBER THURSDAY 17TH 18:58
Don entered through a narrow doorway into one of the sick bays they kept empty for when one of the park’s animals required treatment. The room was fully enclosed, decked out with CCTV and panic buttons, a first aid kit, and pin-encoded access was required, limiting entry to only those who truly needed to get in. The room was cool, but illuminated well by several lights overhead. Around the long pool was non-slip tiling and a hydraulic lift, for when animals were so sick they had to be sedated and lifted in and out of the pool. The last time Don had been in here was six months ago when Poppy, one of the female dolphins, had fallen sick.
Don raised his hand as Amanda saw him come in. Immediately though, Don’s eyes were drawn to the pool and the beast within it. Water splashed over the lip of the tiles as it swam back and forth. Don walked a couple of feet further into the room, closing the door behind him. The animal nearly filled the pool’s length and every time it turned, it splashed more water over the side. It swam close to the surface, but its body was submerged. Normally, the smell in the room was a mixture of disinfectant and fish. Today was quite different. A dirty smell reached Don’s nostrils, one that hinted at putrescent meat. It was so overpowering that Don couldn’t help but wince, as he watched the animal with fascination. Here in the larger room, its size was even more evident. Its body was thick and scaly, long, yet with short front legs and feet that could only surely lift it inches above ground. There was no way this had been flushed down some rich kid’s toilet in Florida. The head was wide and flat, easily as wide as its body, and its jaws were slightly parted, revealing a stunning row of sharp teeth. There were more teeth than Don could count. The incisors at the front were elongated, and the two on the upper and lower jaws looked razor-sharp. Don didn’t want to think about what it would feel like to be snapped between the thing’s jaws. Any fish would stand no chance.
As Don watched it swim, he realised dead fish floated around it. The monster was ignoring them. It couldn’t have eaten for a few days, so Don was surprised it hadn’t gobbled them down instantly. The animal was clearly agitated, and its eyes darted back and forth as Amanda kept throwing it more dead Herring. It refused to eat a single one and just swam up and down the holding pool. Only its head remained above the water line, making Don uncomfortable. The way it was moving reminded him of a lion in a cage, pacing up and down, unable to vent its frustration, its anger, or express its true feelings. A deadly beast reduced by man to a sideshow, its killer instincts now impotent.
Those damn eyes are watching me again.
Don had stationed two guards on duty at the pool, insisting on it until they knew fully what they were dealing with. Without knowing how it might react to captivity, or interaction with humans, he had to put safety first. Ultimately, that was why he did this job. He was convinced that given the chance, Diablo would only too happily snack on any one of the people working at the park. This was quite unlike anything they had dealt with before, in fact, unlike anything anyone had dealt with.
After his short meeting with Zola earlier, he had equipped both guards on duty with ASM-DT Amphibious Rifles, an expensive, but necessary addition to the security outfit he had made Zola invest in. He had only managed to get hold of two at short notice, courtesy of a contact at the Naval Amphibious Base at Coronado and Don’s past, but more were arriving tomorrow. The guards of course, had never fired one, never had cause to, and he hoped they weren’t going to have to. Don had told the guards that if there was any sign of a breach, any indication that the animal was posing a real and genuine threat to human life, that they were to shoot first and ask questions later. Of course, Zola had no idea he had put such a policy in place. He had told her the guards were there to protect the animal; to ensure nobody tried to steal it from them. There was also the legitimate threat of eco-terrorism, something that had so far avoided the park, but nonetheless, was always possible. With that in mind, Zola had allowed Don to upgrade his security forces and weaponry. It was convenient that she was being distracted at the time by a call from Fox, asking if they could get first rights on the as yet undetermined creature. None of the park or security staff was allowed to carry weapons during opening hours. This was a family park, Zola had reminded him, not a school in the Bronx.
“What’s wrong?” Don asked Amanda, nodding a courteous hello to his guards as he walked past them to the top of the pool where Amanda stood. “Why’s it not eating?”
Amanda dropped the bucket at her feet and Don saw it was still two-thirds full.
“I don’t know,” Amanda shook her head and sighed. “It won’t touch anything. Nothing yesterday, or this morning. There’s no doubt it’s carnivorous, and wherever it lived out in the ocean, its diet must’ve been predominantly fish, at the very least marine-life. With those teeth, it wasn’t living off plankton. I’m at a loss what else to try. I mean, I’m not about to throw it a penguin.”
“What about one of the dolphins?” asked Don.
Amanda looked at Don in horror, her mouth agape. “How the hell can you even…”
“Joke, joke!” Don held his hands up defensively and laughed as Amanda relaxed. “Look, if it’s hungry, it’ll eat. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. It’s probably nervous. It’s been taken out of its natural habitat, it doesn’t know what’s going on, and we don’t even know what type of fish it likes to eat. For all we know, this is the first human contact it’s ever had and it’s probably freaked the hell out right now.” Don wasn’t trying to defend the animal, just put Amanda at ease. He was trying to put himself at ease.
“Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Amanda
. “It’s been swimming up and down like that for hours. I’m worried we might push it too far. If we stress it out, it could die, especially, as it’s not eating. Maybe we should give it a break. I’ve been working in shifts with Jay trying to study it. We’ve been running tests all day. Perhaps it needs a rest.”
Maybe you need a rest, thought Don, noticing Amanda stifle a yawn. “Look, why don’t you knock off now? Hamish will be here any minute, and I could use a drink. I know, I know, you said just a quick one, but perhaps you can tell me what this thing is?”
Amanda rubbed her eyes and then picked up the fish-bucket. “Sure. Let me get washed up. Just one though, okay? Hamish wants to talk to me over dinner. I think he’s booked somewhere fancy. I’ve hardly seen him in the last week.”
Don’s mind was already at the bar, and he could taste the beer on his tongue. He just had to lock up, and he would be on his way.
OCTOBER THURSDAY 17TH 21:20
When Amanda said it could only be a quick drink, she hadn’t been joking. They had gone to the Waterfront Grill, where Hamish and Amada had first met, and talked briefly. Hamish told them how his father had already put a deposit down on a new house. Curtis had spent half the money before the cheque had even cleared. Hamish was being more cautious with his share. He wanted to invest in the business, get some new equipment for the trawler. He was also in need of a new first mate. Roy had officially quit yesterday, and Hamish knew he couldn’t talk him around. He wasn’t even sure if he should.
The conversation had quickly moved onto Friday night. Don had seen Tate leaving and rumour had it that there was a major movie star confirmed, as was the mayor. Tate had also heard that the USDA, Marine Mammal Commission and NSA were sniffing around. The rumours about a terrifying new species emerging had apparently been taken quite seriously. He had it on good authority that the Pentagon was sending someone down to see what the fuss was about. Don wasn’t sure if Tate was yanking his chain, but he had been quite serious about it. He’d told Don that marketing had been following the social media feeds and news stations, and talk of Diablo had gone global. Zola had got maximum coverage, just what she’d wanted.